US-China joint center for polar researche…

FVCOM version 3.1.6 released

The FVCOM team provided an assistance for…

The Marine Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling Laboratory (MEDML) at the School for Marine Science
and Technology, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth houses an active research team with focus
on coastal and estuarine circulation, frontal dynamics, bio-physical interaction, suspended sediment
processes, and ecosystem modeling. The University of Massachusetts School of Marine Science is also
a graduate education center providing both M.S. and Ph.D. degreee training in the MEDML.
We have successfully developed an unstructured grid, Finite-Volume, primitive equation Community
Ocean Model (FVCOM) that is well suited for simulating the circulation and ecosystem dynamics from
global to estuarine scales, particularly for regions characterized by irregular complex coastlines, islands,
inlets, creeks, and inter-tidal zones.

In collaboration with scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), we are building
an integrated high-resolution model system that is capable of hindcasts, nowcasts, and forecasts of
circulation and key ecosystem processes in coastal oceans and estuaries.

The major components of this system include: 1) a meso-scale meteorological model, 2) FVCOM, 3) a
sediment model based on the Community Sediment Transport Model, 4) a generalized lower trophic
level food web model, 5) multi-stage zooplankton models, and 6) the EPA-standard water quality
model. A GUI has been developed for system operation and post-processing. In collaboration with
scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), we have implemented both ensemble and
reduced Kalman filters into FVCOM to build a model-based observing and prediction coastal ocean
system.

MEDML is a high-performance computational center for ocean modeling equipped with a super
performance Linux cluster. This multiprocessing computing facility has extended the research interests
of MEDML to the global ocean. A FVCOM-based high resolution Atlantic Ocean Model,with full
coupling between global and coastal systems, is being developed at MEDML.

MEDML welcomes applications for graduate study from talented students in the fields of physical
oceanography, biology, and fishery science. Students will receive solid training in both physical and
ecosystem dynamics and an opportunity to participate in state of the art research in ocean sciences.